Insulated rail-joint.



T. H. McFARLAND & R. ,n. LEWIS.

INSULATED RAIL JOIN T- APPLICATION FILED FEB, I8, 1915.

1,148,179. I Patented July 27', 1915.

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Aren -r orrroni THOMAS H. MQFARLANI) AND ROBERT D. ewis, or assassin,PENNSYLVANIA.

7 INSULATED RAIL-JOINT.

resident of Carnegie, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, and ROB- fERT D. Lnwrs, a citizen of the United States,

and a resident of Carnegie, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, haveinventeda new Joints; and we do hereby declare thenfollowing to be a full,clear, and exact description thereof. g

Our invention relates to an improvement in insulated rail joints. 7 1

In the insulated railjoints or splice bars now} in use, it is customarytoinsulatefthe rails from the splice bars in different ways, such as bymeans of fiber insulationon the inside and underneath such bars, whilethe bolts for holding the bars to; the rails are insulated from suchbars by, means of bushings and washers. These'fjoints cause considerabletrouble to signalmaintenance by the bushings cutting out on the boltsand by the insulation cutting out between the tops of the bars and railsand under the bars and rails, while such bolts are generally speciallymade andsuch joints alsorequire the attention of experienced signalmenwhile being installed or repaired. In other forms these joints have thesplice bars insulated from the rails by means of Wooden fillers insideand outside of the rail, and'by a metal 'base plate underneath the railprovided with a fiber insulation and'washers, whilethepbolts and washersare also specially made, and such wooden fillers very often becomeweakened under strain of the engines and rolling stock "and cause brokenrails.- 1

Our invention,..therefore, has for its 0 ject to overcome theseobjections and to provide a simple and efiicient: joint of suchcharacter,.which can be easily and cheaply manufactured, can be easilyand conveniently-installed, repaired or renewed, will do away-with anumber of parts ordinarily employed on these joints that requireattention, adjustment and renewal, and will enable such joint to bemaintained more cheaply-both as to labor and material than theusualjoints ofthis class. v

To these endsour invention consists, generally stated, in the novelarrangement, con- I Specification of Letters Patent. Application filedFebruary 18, 1915 Serial No. 9,089.

claims.

cate like rates tea July 27', 1915.

struction and combination of arts, as hereinafter more specifically setforth and descrlbedand particularly pointed out in the 'Io enable othersskilled inthe art. to which our invention appertains to construct anduse our improved insulated rail joint, we will describe the same morefully referring to. which: v

F igure]. is a side elevation of our improved insulated rail joint,partly in section;- Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same,

partlv section; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 83 Fig.1; Fig. 4

is an enlarged sectional view on the line 4 l Fig. 3; F1g.:;5 1s asectional view showmg another form of our 1nvent1on;-'F1g. 6

is a side elevation ,ofanother form of angle bars containing theinvention; and Fig. 7 is a cross section of-the same on line-7-7 Fig. 6.

proved insulated rail-joint is shown at A the accompanying drawing, in

and is formed'bythe. fish-plates or angle barsil andl, which are placedat the usual of the adjacent ends of the two abutting rails a, and areheld in positionjby' means, of

positions with 'respect'to, andon each side the usual screw bolts 5'passing through said 5 bars and rails. These angle bars 1 and 1 areoneach side of the rail, withthe bar-1 on one side of the joint or and bar1 on-the other side.- At the under'ends of each of the angle-bars andadj acent to such joint or, which is formed byfl'the end faces of theabutting rails a, are the insulated projections2 and 3, which extend outat right angles from each of thebars, so that such projections on oneside .of the railsc .lie against oneanother, and one'of the saidprojections, such as '2, is provided with upper and'lowerf and outer endflanges land 5 respectively forwoverlapping or fitting over and'aroundthe other projection 3. 'The projection Bhas a piece of insulation 6,such- Like symbols of "reference herein indi parts in eachof the figuresof the drawing.

and the flanges 6thereon against the flange and 3 for holding the sametogether and in 5. Bolts 7 pass through the projections 2 place, andsuch bolts have a'bushing of insulation 8 around the same such as fiberor other suitable material, while between the heads of such bolts andthe projections a' piece of insulation 7, such as fiber or othersultable material s placed. Our improved insulated rail joint A has theparts assembled in 'position. as shown by placing the rails a on theties (not'shown) in the usual manner, with the angle bars l and lboltedthereto by the bolts Z) and the projections 2 and 3 bolted to 'eachother by the bolts 7. Before such parts are thus assemb led the endposts 0 are placed between the ends of the abutting rails a, which postsare formed of fiber or other suitable insulating material, and arepreferablv of the same shape and size of such rails in cross-section, sothat the heads of the same conforming to the head of the rail will actto support such i-osts bv resting on the projections 2 and 3.

It will be obvious that the form of joint can be applied to old rails intracks, and in thelaying of new rails the posts forming the joint can befitted together as quickly and as conveniently as the ordinary angleorsplice bars now in use, as there are no bushings, washers, plates andother parts to assemble as in ordinary forms of these insulated joints,which thereby renders the 7 joint compact and ready for use at alltimes,

while there will also be a saving on'the wear on the end posts orinsulation between the rail ends, so that the bolts in angle bars can bekept tight in the rails, which "will compel pressure against the fiatends or projections on angle bars when therails creep or expand, therebykeepingthe pressure from such end posts and thus overcoming the frequentrenewals of such posts.

It will thus be seen'that in the use ofour improved insulated railjoint, the insulation on the angle bar or joint projections willovercome any Wearing out ofthe insulation usually employed undertherails'and along the angle bars caused by the moisture from theground, and water, etcl, from the trains,

and'by' the vibration of the rails cutting out these insulations, whilethe expansion and contraction of the parts cutting) out the. end postswill also be'overcoine by the form of joint employed. The insulatedparts are thus supported above the-ties and road bed in a dry position,thereby insuring longer wear of the joint. The construction thus I 1requires much less labor and fiber for assembling and renewals than theordinary joints, while the employment of skilled labor in maintainingthe joint is overcome, as the bolts for holding the angle-bars to therails and the shape of such bars along the rails are of the same formand shape as those generally in use. The construction will also be tions2 and 3 may be shortened as shown in the other figures of the drawing,such as is shown in Fig. 5, and if desired the bolts 7 can be placed-outof line with each other, as shown in said figure. As shown in Figs. 6and 7 the bar may be provided with an extension 9 on its angularprojection 2 for fitting over theflange 1 on the bar 1, and

between such extension and flange a piece of insulation 10, which isformed of fiber or other suitable material, while in such case one ofthebolts 7 need, only be used for the projections 2 and 3 and a bolt 7 usedfor securing the extension to the flange. The projections 2- and 3 canalso be provided with the inclined upper and lower faces 12, as shown inFigs. 6 and 7, and the bolt 7 can be insulated from the, extension 9 bythe bushing 11. of fiber or other suitable material arounds'uchbolt,while the nut on said bolt isinsulated from'su'ch extension by thewasher 13 of fiber or other suitable material." i M Various othermodifications and changes in the design and construction of the parts ofour improvedinsulated rail-joint may be resorted to without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages. Ia

Whatwe claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isone of said rails, a second barsecured to the other rail, said barshaving laterally-extending projections formed so as to interlock againstendwise movement, supplementary means for connecting said projectionstogether, and insulation between the opposed faces of said projections.

2 .-In an insulating rail joint, the combination with a pair of railsdisposed in endwise abutting relation; of a bar securedto one ofsaidrails and terminating adjacent the end of such rail, a second barsecured tov the other rail and terminating adjacent the end thereof,said bars having laterallyextending projections-formed so as tointerlock against endwise movement,supplemen tary means for connectingsaid projections together, and insulation between the opposed faces ofsaid rails and between the opposed faces of said projections.

. 8. An insulated rail-joint having anglebars on each side of the joint,secured to the rails, each of said bars provided with an angular portionextending out from the same angular portion extending out from the sameadjacent to the ends ofthe rails forming said joint, one of saidportions having flanges for overlapping the other, and said inclosedportion being provided with an insulation around the same.

5. A connecting device for railway rails comprising angle bars on eachside of the rails and secured thereto,-each of said bars Copies of thispatent may be obtained for being provided with angular portionsextending out from the same adjacent the rail ends forming the joint andinsulated from each other, an extension on the projection 20 of one ofsaid bars adapted to engage over the other bar and insulated therefrom,and a bolt for securing said extension to the bar.

In testimony whereof, we the said THOMAS H. MOFARLAND and ROBERT D.LEWIS, have 25 hereunto set our hands.

Witnesses:

, JOSEPHINE MACG'ILVRAY,

J. N. CooKE;

Washington, D. G.

